On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 09:19:36PM +0100, Bill Allombert wrote: > > But we do distribute binaries in the debs - and debian/copyright is > > not only for the source but also ends up in the deb.
> Actually, Policy does not make mandatory for the .deb file to contain > a copyright file at all: > `/usr/share/doc/<package>' may be a symbolic link to another directory > in `/usr/share/doc' only if the two packages both come from the same > source and the first package Depends on the second.[2] > (I am not a fan of this particular paragraph of Policy, but that is > irrelevant, and there is a number of packages taking advantage of that) > Policy also allows package to refer to /usr/share/common-licenses (part of > base-files) for actual license texts (for a limited set of license). > So we already allow packages to reference other packages for license > informations. Binary package referencing its source package for detailed > license information is not quite a stretch. There are some material differences that we should be sure of before blessing such a change in policy. So far, the exceptions preserve the invariant that if the package is installed, the license is present in /usr/share/doc/<package>/copyright or in a file referenced by that file. If we allow the license for our binary packages to be shipped in the source only, then: - Users who receive Debian preinstalled from the manufacturer will not have a copy of the license. - Users who receive Debian as binary-only media with an offer to provide source upon request will not have a copy of the license. - There will be a greater number of "exceptions to the rule" regarding what must be included in debian/copyright (since there are some licenses that do require specific information shipped with the binaries, and some that don't), bringing an increased risk of bugs. -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/ slanga...@ubuntu.com vor...@debian.org -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-policy-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
